We had a scare with one of our cats recently with heat exhaustion, he was panting and limo the poor boy. We got him into the bathroom so he could cool himself and he lay on the tiles and gave him space. We knew he was doing better when he blinked at us.

From what I understand,the Eragon series started out self-published, and the author could really have used an editor...or an English teacher with a red pen. That series frustrates me as I could see he had potential as a writer, he just needed to fall out of love with his own work and stick it in a drawer for a few years.

So much this.

I actually really like the Eragon series, but you are so totally right about the red pen! I've mentioned before way upthread, but particularly in the last book the writing becomes repetitive and a little clunky, like the editing was rushed to get the book published on time.

Actually, something else that bothered my about that book, now I come to think of it - in the acknowledgement at the back, Paolini mentions some things that have influenced him (that's fair enough, people may be interested to know and it may give them new ideas about reading material) but he does it in such a smug, self-congratulatory way it put me right off. It was as if he was saying 'look at me and how clever I am, look at all these things I've read that make me such a fantastic author! Here are some things I referenced, by the way, see how much of a geek I am? If you didn't get them then you obviously aren't as brilliant as me!'

Erm, keep that attitude to yourself, thanks.

Logged

'A troth, by the way, is a small furry creature with fins, the offspring of a trout and a sloth. I often wonder what they saw in each other, but then I suppose the sloth, being upside down, would tend to have a different slant on things.'

I'm reading a book now whose editing irritates me. For quotations, they use the single quote mark ' (what I would call an apostrophe) instead of the double quote mark " which is okay, I think that's a style/regional thing. Except, the quote marks are randomly missing, or randomly inserted into the wrong places. And then sometimes they put quotes from two different characters in the same paragraph.

'Where is the dog? he asked her suspiciously. 'I don't know, I haven't seen him in a while.' But he must be around here somewhere,' she added hopefully.

Also, the single quote mark is such a tiny thing with this font, sometimes I wonder if the random additions are really just accidental specks on the page. The book was new, though.

From what I understand,the Eragon series started out self-published, and the author could really have used an editor...or an English teacher with a red pen. That series frustrates me as I could see he had potential as a writer, he just needed to fall out of love with his own work and stick it in a drawer for a few years.

So much this.

I actually really like the Eragon series, but you are so totally right about the red pen! I've mentioned before way upthread, but particularly in the last book the writing becomes repetitive and a little clunky, like the editing was rushed to get the book published on time.

Actually, something else that bothered my about that book, now I come to think of it - in the acknowledgement at the back, Paolini mentions some things that have influenced him (that's fair enough, people may be interested to know and it may give them new ideas about reading material) but he does it in such a smug, self-congratulatory way it put me right off. It was as if he was saying 'look at me and how clever I am, look at all these things I've read that make me such a fantastic author! Here are some things I referenced, by the way, see how much of a geek I am? If you didn't get them then you obviously aren't as brilliant as me!'

Erm, keep that attitude to yourself, thanks.

Paolini actually had a good idea on how to string some clichés together to make a really good story. He just needed a really good editor.

David Eddings did the same thing deliberately - but had the great good luck to have a wife who was a cowriter and a good editor. After she died, things got noticeably wordier.

And Laurell K. Hamilton's books got notoriously worse when she divorced her first husband (who had apparently been her editor as well as the first person to read them) - a lot more gratuitous stuff, copy & paste chapters, and a lot less advancement of the plot threads (if any). I'm pretty sure that there would have been a much more satisfying resolution to the plot thread about the Mother of all Vampires (Marme Noir) if he'd still been her first reader & editor...not to mention a lot less gratuitous scrabbling in the sheets, on the ground, on the floor, on a table, in the hot tub, and wherever else the author decides to write a little Mary Sue self-gratification scene or two....yep - that's a pet peeve all by itself. I want to see what happens next in the story - not her (and I use the word very loosely) love life.

'Where is the dog? he asked her suspiciously. 'I don't know, I haven't seen him in a while.' But he must be around here somewhere,' she added hopefully.

...snip

I encountered this strange run-on style of writing dialogue in Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud. In many cases it was hard to follow who was speaking when the talking was not separated. I don't remember if the single quotation mark was used or not.

'Where is the dog? he asked her suspiciously. 'I don't know, I haven't seen him in a while.' But he must be around here somewhere,' she added hopefully.

...snip

I encountered this strange run-on style of writing dialogue in Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud. In many cases it was hard to follow who was speaking when the talking was not separated. I don't remember if the single quotation mark was used or not.

The single quotation mark thing seems to be the British style. I have a number of books that were published in the UK, and they all use that style.

Logged

If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, librarians are a global threat.

'Where is the dog? he asked her suspiciously. 'I don't know, I haven't seen him in a while.' But he must be around here somewhere,' she added hopefully.

...snip

I encountered this strange run-on style of writing dialogue in Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud. In many cases it was hard to follow who was speaking when the talking was not separated. I don't remember if the single quotation mark was used or not.

The single quotation mark thing seems to be the British style. I have a number of books that were published in the UK, and they all use that style.

Yes, but mushing up two different people's quotes into one paragraph is NOT.

Logged

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

From what I understand,the Eragon series started out self-published, and the author could really have used an editor...or an English teacher with a red pen. That series frustrates me as I could see he had potential as a writer, he just needed to fall out of love with his own work and stick it in a drawer for a few years.

So much this.

I actually really like the Eragon series, but you are so totally right about the red pen! I've mentioned before way upthread, but particularly in the last book the writing becomes repetitive and a little clunky, like the editing was rushed to get the book published on time.

Actually, something else that bothered my about that book, now I come to think of it - in the acknowledgement at the back, Paolini mentions some things that have influenced him (that's fair enough, people may be interested to know and it may give them new ideas about reading material) but he does it in such a smug, self-congratulatory way it put me right off. It was as if he was saying 'look at me and how clever I am, look at all these things I've read that make me such a fantastic author! Here are some things I referenced, by the way, see how much of a geek I am? If you didn't get them then you obviously aren't as brilliant as me!'

Erm, keep that attitude to yourself, thanks.

If you really want to vomit, this is what he says on JK Rowling:"One of the greatest pleasures of reading this series is seeing J.K.Rowling develop as a writer, and she certainly spreads her wings here."

As far as I know there is a fair gap between when Eragon and when Philosophers Stone was published.

Out of context, there's nothing wrong with that comment - you can see how someone develops as a write if you compare their later works with earlier ones, regardless of when they were writing or when you read them. I haven't read the Paolini acknowledgments (I got very bored with Eragon, and didn't read any of the others) but from the earlier comments I can see it could be very patronising.

On a personal level, based on the book of his which I read, I think Paolini was in urgent need of a really good editor (I'm not sure if he self published - I know he was very young (?17) when he wrote the first book, and I think it shows) and I think the later Potter books would also have benefited from a bit more editorial red pencil.

The first book was self-published funded by his parents who then put him on a publicity tour. The lack of an editor so clearly shows, even though one worked with him later, I think.

I've read Eragon, I was continually annoyed by the main character. I wanted Brom (who I liked) to hit him over the head with a stick. I liked Murtagh too, he was the only one who refused to do what Eragon said and for that reason I don't think we were supposed to like him.

That's the strange thing about the book, there are some very bad things as well as very good. Like Saphira, she was very well done and what she did after Brom died was just so beautiful. I would have loved to be his Engkish teacher, I would have been honest with him and told him that he had potential as a writer but needed more experience and maturity.

I'm so so glad to not be the only one annoyed with the Eragon series. I really want to like these books. I really want to finish reading them. But I can't. I get just so far and then annoyance builds and I can't go on. Some day

I'm so so glad to not be the only one annoyed with the Eragon series. I really want to like these books. I really want to finish reading them. But I can't. I get just so far and then annoyance builds and I can't go on. Some day

I enjoyed the first one, despite the flaws, but I couldn't ignore them in the second one. Unfortunately it spoiled my enjoyment of the first one completely. It's a shame he didn't wait to publish until he was a bit older and had revised it a few dozen times.